Adult video arcade

Adult video arcades are pornographic movie viewing areas where masturbation is tolerated and expected (and sometimes openly encouraged). They are almost always attached to a sex shop or an adult book store (ABS), where magazines, movies, and sexual aids are sold. An arcade, which is a type of Peep show, consists of typically a dozen or more private (or sometimes semi-private) viewing booths, containing a video monitor, a panel of controls, and a seat. Sometimes the booths have paper towels for the semen, and a wastebasket. Sometimes these booths are arranged in a maze-like fashion. Often the lighting will be dim, perhaps only red or green lights near each booth, indicating their availability. In their origin they were exclusively male. Even today (2017), women – other than the occasional prostitute or (escorted, for her safety) "hot" or swinger wife – are never patrons.

In their origin, they operated under the fiction that videos were being previewed before buying. It was one film per booth, no choice after entering. While a few existed in the age of the 8mm movie, the relative simplicity of the VCR caused them to multiply. The source was now racks of self-rewinding VCR tape players, instead of the cumbersome projectors. Still, a system required a certain amount of maintenance – breakdowns needed to be repaired, and there were a lot of things to break – which implied good management.

Movie time is purchased either by coin or cash activation within the booth, or by purchasing tokens or a block of time in advance. Generally a selection of 15 to 50 movies running in DVD players is available for viewing, sometimes diverse (straight, gay, fetish), other times monotonously similar. On some systems four videos may be viewed simultaneously in quadrants of the screen. New video systems operate with computers and provide a selection of several thousand movies. The world's largest system is located in France, Paris (Date stamp Jan. 2011).

It is possible for arcades in Europe to have two-person booths, where the seating accommodates a pair sitting together. But this is unusual, and outside Europe unknown.

In the U.S., in some adult book stores, the arcades will have "buddy booths." These booths are adjacent, and allow for interplay between occupants. They may have windows so "buddies" may watch each other masturbate. Between other booths there may be glory holes for oral sex, tolerated by the management (which otherwise would seal the holes).

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